Wyatt
Full of a tender thought, which severs meFrom all my kind, a lonely musing thing,From my breast's solitude I sometimes spring,Still seeking her whom most I ought to flee;And see her pass though soft, so adverse she,That my soul spreads for flight a trembling wing:Of armed sighs such legions does she bring,The fair antagonist of Love and me.Yet from beneath that dark disdainful brow,Or much I err, one beam of pity flows,Soothing with partial warmth my heart's distress:Again my bosom feels its wonted glow!But when my simple hope I would disclose,My o'er-fraught faltering tongue the crowded thoughts oppress.
Words in this poem
- ought p. p.
- Was or were under obligation to pay; owed. [Orig. the preterit of the verb to owe. OE. oughte, aughte, ahte, AS. ahte. sq. root110. See Owe.]
- wonted a.
- Accustomed; customary; usual.
- fraught n.
- A freight; a cargo. [OE.fraight, fraght; akin to Dan. fragt, Sw. frakt, D. vracht, G. fracht, cf. OHG. fr merit, reward; perh. from corresponding to E. for + The root of E. own. Cf.]
- faltering a.
- Hesitating; trembling.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Wyatt is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, the various hands translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Petrarch, Wyatt, in The Sonnets, Triumphs and Other Poems (1859), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17650, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/petrarch-sonnets/wyatt-7.html, id L14703.
Form and metre
Wyatt is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDCDCD, the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 7% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other Italian sonnets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABBAABBACDCDCD meA · thingB · springB · fleeA · sheA · wingB · bringB · meA · browC · flowsD · distressC · glowD · discloseC · oppressD
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Full of a tender thought, which severs me | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| From all my kind, a lonely musing thing, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| From my breast's solitude I sometimes spring, | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| Still seeking her whom most I ought to flee; | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And see her pass though soft, so adverse she, | 10 | ·······˘/· |
| That my soul spreads for flight a trembling wing: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of armed sighs such legions does she bring, | 10 | ··˘··/˘··· |
| The fair antagonist of Love and me. | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| Yet from beneath that dark disdainful brow, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Or much I err, one beam of pity flows, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Soothing with partial warmth my heart's distress: | 10 | /˘·/˘···˘/ |
| Again my bosom feels its wonted glow! | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| But when my simple hope I would disclose, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| My o'er-fraught faltering tongue the crowded thoughts oppress. | 12 | ···/˘··/˘·˘/ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.